WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A judge has allowed a northeastern Pennsylvania woman to withdraw her guilty plea to a third-degree murder charge in the shooting death of her boyfriend.
Thirty-year-old Jessica Alinsky has claimed her live-in boyfriend, Matthew Gailie, shot himself in the face during a dispute at their Hazle Township home in September 2011. But last month, she tearfully pleaded guilty to third-degree murder.
A Luzerne County judge on Friday granted her request to withdraw that plea. The judge set a trial date of Oct. 6.
Alinsky’s new lawyer, Demetrius Fannick, said in court that his client asserts her innocence. He didn’t elaborate.
Her former lawyer, Jeffrey Markosky of Mahanoy City, requested to be released from the case due to “significant philosophical differences” over how to present the case at trial.
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